Services Perspectives - The hidden hazards within private clouds

Overview:
The Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) recently interviewed 45 enterprise CIOs to learn more about their adoption of cloud technologies. Most enterprises, the interviews revealed, are building cloud environments on their own, despite a lack of internal cloud skills, a high level of complexity, and the uncertainty that comes with them.

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The hidden hazards within private clouds
The Cisco®
Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) recently
interviewed 45 enterprise CIOs to learn more about their adoption
of cloud technologies. Most enterprises, the interviews revealed,
are building cloud environments on their own, despite a lack of
internal cloud skills, a high level of complexity, and the uncertainty
that comes with them.
“We were surprised that most enterprises want to figure out
the cloud themselves before they ask for help from solution and
service providers,” says Uwe Lambrette, director of Internet
Business Solutions for Cisco Services. “It’s a learning process that
leads to understanding and comfort.”
There can be hidden hazards along the way, warns Erik Vogel,
director of Data Center Services for Cisco Services. As the
architect of the Cisco Domain TenSM
framework, which helps
guide and simplify data center and cloud transformation projects,
Vogel knows all too well the challenges and intricacies of planning,
building, and managing cloud environments.
“People tend to view cloud purely through hardware and software
lenses, but there is so much more to consider,” Vogel says.
“Process, governance, security, business and IT alignment, pay-
per-use models. If companies don’t get all of it right, there will be
unintended consequences.”
For example, if enterprises don’t implement effective charge-
back and decommissioning policies, they will inevitably face virtual
server sprawl.
“Provisioning servers in a cloud is so easy,” Vogel explains.
“Without proper governance, internal teams will keep spinning
up more and more servers. Eventually, sprawl will occur, CPU
capacity will be wasted, and IT assets will be underutilized.”
Server sprawl can also cause application sprawl, which typically
raises software licensing fees. As internal teams provision new
cloud environments and add applications to those environments,
they’re not always aware of the licensing costs they are incurring.
Proper governance and usage policies are essential for any cloud
environment, and can help mitigate server and application sprawl.
The intent is to make sure internal teams only provision what they
need.
“Effective charge-back policies are the key,” says Maurice DuPas,
director of Data Center and Cloud Services for Cisco Services.
“Without them, internal teams will take more than they need. But if
they are paying for assets and services, they are much less likely
to let them sit idly.”
The balance between customization and standardization is also
a tricky—but necessary—consideration for companies building
private clouds. Too much user customization can result in security,
administration, and cost issues. Too much standardization can
lead to rigidity and an inability to meet the diverse needs of
internal teams.
“The right balance between control and enablement will be
different for each company,” explains DuPas. “This is why cloud
and technology decisions can’t be made in a vacuum. They must
include business stakeholders, and focus on business needs and
opportunities.”
Despite a number of hidden hazards, Vogel and DuPas are bullish
on the benefits of private clouds.
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